REPORT OF THE UNITED STATES GEOGRAPHIC BOARD. 13 



classes, on the other hand, have been applied either by legislative 

 enactment or charter, and therefore possess some degree of formal 

 authority. 



Differences of usage exist to a large extent not only in the names 

 of natural features and unincorporated places but even in those of 

 organized bodies of population whose names have been bestowed by 

 formal authority. These differences have originated in numerous 

 ways. 



In the unsettled parts of the country different exploring expedi- 

 tions, ignoring the work of their predecessors, have given new 

 names to features already named. As elsewhere noted this difficulty 

 has often occurred in Alaska, which has been visited in recent years 

 by numerous expeditions. 



The transliteration of Indian names has everywhere been a fruit- 

 ful source of differences in spelling, inasmuch as no two persons 

 understand alike or render into the same English characters the 

 obscure sounds of Indian names. 



It often happens in the case of the larger geographic features, 

 such as extended mountain ranges, rivers, etc., that different names 

 have been applied locally in various parts and these names have 

 become well settled in usage. 



It frequently happens that railroads adopt names for their sta- 

 tions different from those of the towns or villages in which they are 

 situated and thus divide usage. To a much greater extent, how- 

 ever, than the railroads has the Post Office Department confused the 

 nomenclature of the smaller towns and villages by attaching names 

 to the post offices not in accordance with those in local usage. In- 

 deed, an examination shows that there are in this country thou- 

 sands of cases where the name of the post office does not conform to 

 the local name of the place in which it is situated. These differences 

 are very confusing to those using the postal service, and it seems 

 desirable to reduce their number so far as practicable, at the same 

 tune recognizing the necessity of having no post office name dupli- 

 cated in a state. 



By far the greater number of differences in usage, however, have 

 their origin in carelessness or ignorance on the part of those making 

 use of the names. Such errors appearing in print are frequently 

 perpetuated, especially in popular works, and often supplant the 

 original name in usage. 



Originating in these diversities of spelling there is distinctly 

 traceable a development of geographic nomenclature which is, on 

 the whole, proceeding in a beneficial direction. Its tendency is 

 toward the discarding of objectionable names and the adoption of 

 [)leasing ones and toward the simplification and abbreviation of 



